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Ward closes following MRSA fears MRSA patients 'may not be linked'
(about 6 hours later)
Ten patients at a County Fermanagh hospital are being closely monitored after they were found to be carrying the MRSA bug. It is too early to say whether 10 cases of MRSA at a Fermanagh hospital are linked, a specialist in communicable disease control has said.
One of the wards at the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen has now been closed to new admissions. Ten elderly patients are carrying the bug and a ward at the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen is closed to admissions.
Richard Smithson, consultant in communicable disease control, said the virus may have been transmitted in different ways.
He said that it was not clear that this was an actual outbreak of MRSA.
"We have got 10 patients who have got it, we haven't got results back showing whether it is the same type," Dr Smithson said.
"It might be that they all caught it in different ways and that just by testing for it more than we used to, we are picking up more patients with it."
Dr Smithson said MRSA was becoming more common and had the potential to spread between patients.
A Western Health and Social Care Trust spokeswoman said all necessary precautions were being taken.A Western Health and Social Care Trust spokeswoman said all necessary precautions were being taken.
It is not clear whether the elderly patients caught the MRSA infection at the hospital.
The patients affected have been isolated, barrier nursing has been introduced and new patients are not being admitted to the ward.The patients affected have been isolated, barrier nursing has been introduced and new patients are not being admitted to the ward.
Marion Martin, infection control nurse at the hospital in Enniskillen, said patients were sometimes infected with MRSA before they were admitted.
"But some (cases) are new in the last four to five days and that's why we've put the precautions in place" she said.
Sinn Fein assembly member Gerry McHugh said it was a recurring problem that must be addressed.Sinn Fein assembly member Gerry McHugh said it was a recurring problem that must be addressed.
"The regimes in the hospital must be strong enough to tackle this, not just for the day-to-day running of the hospital but to look to the future so that we can say that this is a thing of the past," he said."The regimes in the hospital must be strong enough to tackle this, not just for the day-to-day running of the hospital but to look to the future so that we can say that this is a thing of the past," he said.